District 10 Alder Yannette Figueroa Cole brilliantly explains "The Ghost of Council Past & The Ghost of Council Present and the Future of Oversight"

Hello,

Alder Figueroa Cole has invested a considerable amount of time to explain the history of police oversight in the City of Madison. Some former and current alders, along with a handful of community members have been in lockstep for years to frame the Office of the Independent Monitor as something that doesn't exist. This false narrative has contributed to the vitriol we all witnessed at our most recent Common Council meeting and that continues to be spread across social media.

And you know what that kind of drama does? It harms the very folks who most need effective police oversight to exist in Madison. That kind of harm and performative chaos depends heavily on the general public to not do much research, it depends on you to run with false social media narratives, it depends on you to invest your emotions in personalities versus the actual work, it depends on you not attending meetings regularly where you could have been witnessing all along how these false narratives often started up and spread as the gospel of truth.

If your idea of working towards effective oversight is drama, gossip, trolling, yelling obscenities -- such as a Black woman calling me a "house n****r" --, disinformation campaigns, and the like -- go ahead and stop reading and don't even bother reading much further.

However, if you actually believe that we can have effective police oversight in Madison, and you're high key over the performative political theater, I encourage you to read both of Alder Figueroa Cole's updates. Oh, and she links to information you need to know, so you can do your own research.

And if I were you, I'd also also subscribe to her updates as she breaks down the budget brilliantly, too!